Many seem to think that STEEM is nothing more than a social media site called Steemit. This viewpoint causes people to take a narrow view of what is going on.

In my last post, I made reference to how the apps Google created are on the Android platform. This is an analogy I used, while not ideal, to demonstrate what the blockchain really is. For those who view it as Steemit only, this is akin to looking at Andoid as Gmail only.

To read that article:

https://steemit.com/steem/@taskmaster4450/steem-is-not-steemit-71-m-steem-powered-down-major-marketing-push-by-the-other-apps

People think it absurd to put a valuation on STEEM as I did in the title to this post. However, it really is not unrealistic if you understand the power shift that is starting to take place.

So, how can this blockchain eclipse one of the largest companies in the world?

The same way any blockchain has that potential: the power of decentralization.

A decentralized network is many times more powerful than a centralized one. At the same time, it is far ahead in terms of innovation. When things become centralized, innovation is stifled. This is fairly evident when you look at the Internet today. Since it is a medium that is controlled, basically by Google and Facebook, the innovation has slowed. We are dependent upon the breakthroughs of those two entities for the innovation. Of course, anything that competes with either is bought up or smashed through the use of their enormous market power.

Decentralization does not have any of these issues. On the steem blockchain, there is no competition as such. Any app that is developed feeds into the same pool. People are free to use whatever they want and STEEM holders benefit. Since we are dealing with open source, all data is available for anyone to see.

And that is where the enormous power comes from.

Anyone, anywhere in the world, can take the code that is present in an app and build upon it. It is the ole adage about building a better mousetrap. Anyone who thinks he or she can is free to go about it. There are no copyrights or secrecy about what is out there. Nothing is proprietary. Instead, all those who know code can start developing whatever they want.

Google is a multi-faceted entity that controls a large portion of people's live. The ecosystem it created is enormous. You look at the applications they have and they are some of the biggest in the world. Gmail, YouTube, Drive, and their search engine are all valuable entities. One of the strategies that made them so successful is the fact that they give a lot of stuff away for free. Their goal is just to get you into the ecosystem.

Google employs over 70,000 people with another unknown amount who dedicate their spare time to creating apps for Google to implement. In this regard, Google was able to expand their "workforce", unpaid I might add, by opening up certain aspect of their ecosystem to developers. Of course, this is the entire premise of the app store where the development is done outside of Google's employment. We must bear in mind that Google profits from all of this.

The big question is what do the creators get out of the deal?

As we know, there are some who make big money on YouTube. However, that is only the smallest percentage of users. The situation gets even worse when we look at the developers who give up their spare time to work on Google code. From what I read, even though it is unpaid, people do it to increase their skills. In other words, it gives them a chance to hone their craft.

Again, this is all to Google's benefit.

Enter the blockchain and decentralization.

We now have a system that rewards the people who create the content. Those who are trying to improve their skills can do the same thing on the steem blockchain yet get paid for it. We see people coming over from YouTube making more money than they were over there. I was able to surpass my earnings from Blogger in a couple weeks on here.

My question is how much will STEEM be worth if there are a couple hundred thousand people working on developing apps for this blockchain? Much like Google, everything they do will benefit the holders of STEEM. One major difference, what is created also benefits those who created it.

Here is another question: what happens when word gets out that not only can one develop an app on STEEM blockchain but also can create an individual token around said app?

Did you head just explode on that one?

Can you see the potential for all these designers of apps around the world? If they learn to create on the steem blockchain, they can take any app and use the SMT protocol to create a token. How much is that worth to a developer? Suddenly doing something in the spare time is very lucrative.

What is also very interesting is that utopian.io is already creating the basic code to serve as a foundation for any developer to use. That means anyone in the world can take what they create and build upon in. In fact, that is the main reason uptopian.io was formed. This is another project @ned delegated a massive amount of SP to in an effort to assist.

Always remember that a decentralized, open network is much more powerful and innovative than a centralized, closed one. Today, companies guard their trade secrets to maintain an edge on the competition. Of course, the competitors want to get a hold of that information since it reduces the time to create something new. Using a shortcut like that can save a company years.

On the blockchain, there are no trade secrets. Years are removed simply because all developments are out there for people to see. Anyone can take the code and use it how he or she sees fit. This is the power that Google and Facebook do not have.

Therefore, can this blockchain become bigger than Google. It is possible. We are already seeing some amazing developments emerging while still in the early stages. At the moment, we have some wonderful apps that are in operation. What is uplifting is the development teams are hard at work improving them each day. Over time, they will only get better as others are being added. Do not be surprised if there are over 100 apps on here by year end.

And finally, what is most powerful is that these people do this as a labor of love. Those who create apps do it because it is their passion. That is the power of open decentralization. People will spend hours creating and adding to the blockchain simply because they love it. Contrast this with those who are developing for a company. They are there because they are paid. They might love what they do but there is paycheck element. If the paycheck stopped showing up, so would those people.

The point of this article is for you to understand some of the potential of blockchain technology. When you have a couple hundred thousand people working on creating and developing, you will be amazed what happens. This is not something we have seen as such. We get some insight into it by looking at the social media realm and Facebook in particular. People spend unpaid hours on there because they love it (or are addicted to it). That resulted, in large part, to a $600B company.

Now take that same concept and add in the same mindset for developers. They, too, are spending unpaid hours to create different things on this blockchain. Yet, since most are Steemians, their profit comes as a result of the growth of the blockchain. This, ultimately, will push the price of STEEM higher.

Can you see how even a behemoth like Google really doesn't stand a chance against the power of decentralization?

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